The Next Book?

What’s on the horizon?

Since for reasons beyond my control, I no longer have a publisher, it’s hard to say what’s next. I’ll be looking for an agent once I have the current work-in-progress polished. And what is that book? Astrophilia.

A young woman escapes a failing Earth on a starliner headed to the edge of the universe. It’s sort of a Doctor Who meets Twin Peaks meets my imagination sort of story. In fact, when I started writing, I wanted to write a sort of American, female-led Doctor Who, but the story took on a life of its own. There are government agents, wolves, and angels. It must be filled with surprises because it keeps surprising me.

Another finished manuscript is called Drowning Karma. It starts with a nine-year-old girl who comes to own a magic paint brush. Whatever she points it at changes. So, when she points it at a house and the house transforms, there are repercussions for everyone, and not everyone survives to tell their side of the story.

The next book I was calling The Labyrinth House, but it has undergone massive rewrites. The title now Sunlight and Mercie. The story picks up with a character from The Blue Jar, but the story itself is far more fantastical. The characters find themselves in a house where the walls and rooms move and change and mysterious souls live within. The story is inspired by the myth of Persephone in the Underworld.

Then there’s The Fairytale Asylum. A teenage girl breaks into a supposed madhouse, and the inhabitants are like nothing she expected.

Your book has the perfect title. It is just curious I wrote The Bell Jar. I have to admit I have been thinking of buying another copy of it. Mine is long lost in the many moves since college days. I read it so long ago but have returned interest in Sylvia Plath. Not that I ever lost interest. But since my blog, I have been reading a great deal more in poetry and literary personal writings of authors & poets. Anais Nin & Virginia Woolf have attracted me the most plus Sylvia. Edgar Allan Poe & many other male writers & poets have attracted my attention. I am digging into Anais Nin the most. I plan I working my way through her diaries, pulling out the best passages & featuring them on “the secret keeper.” She writes the most insightful thoughts and feelings. They are poetic & touch deep into one’s soul.

“The Blue Jar” is the absolute most perfect title for your book. After reading your book, it is so understandable the choice you made. The image of the blue jar on the cover is so perfect. The sound of the marbles on the wood floor and cascading so noisily down the steps of the stairs is so perfect and propels tension so well. There is so much in your book, I remember so well. And I must tell you I have short term memory problems. Yet, I remember your book so well. It amazes me how I am able to recall you book so perfectly for me. That is how ingrained it is in my memory. It tells what a compelling book you have written. Once it is published, I intend to get my Kindle copy & read it again to just fully absorb myself in the story. Your characters are developed so well, I feel like I sense the depth of their very nature. You have a gift, Marta. Just keep truckin’. Jk 😎